Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick admits he’ll need surgery on his injured thumb, and reportedly could have it as soon as Friday.
Fitzpatrick suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb during last weekend’s loss at Oakland. Wearing a brace on his thumb, he led Gang Green to a 28-23 win over Jacksonville on Sunday and acknowledged the injury will require surgery. A CBS report intimated Friday is a possibility, with a former NFL doctor telling The Post that Fitzpatrick might not miss any playing time.
According to CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl, the quarterback told her he probably won’t wait until the offseason, and she reported he might have the surgery right after the Jets host ex-coach Rex Ryan’s Bills on Thursday night. Following that game the Jets don’t play again until Nov. 22 at Houston.
“He said he probably will not wait until the end of the season to undergo that surgery, so the logical schedule might be this coming Friday,’’ Erdahl said on air. “The Jets play this Thursday night football, giving the quarterback more than the usual time to come back from that procedure.”
Presuming the injury is a torn UCL, former San Diego Chargers team doctor David Chao said he felt it would make sense to have surgery sooner rather than later to avoid having to cut through as much built-up scar tissue.
“I didn’t think he would miss any time with a seven-day window. Now with a 10-day window, that would be even better,’’ Chao told The Post, adding Fitzpatrick would still need to wear the brace on his thumb. “It would absolutely make sense to me that he has the surgery Friday morning.”
When the subject was broached to the quarterback, he replied, “Somebody reported that? I don’t know. It’s still kind of up in the air.’’
But he did confirm that a procedure will eventually be needed.
“Yes, I have to get surgery at some point,’’ he said.
The Jets can only hope any time he misses would be minimal. Even playing with the injury, Fitzpatrick went 21 of 34 for 272 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 106.5 quarterback rating.
“He was fine. He played his type of ballgame. He didn’t turn the ball over. He did a good job,’’ said coach Todd Bowles.
“We came into the game — doctors, trainers, and everybody — with a great game plan in terms of how I was going to manage,” Fitzpatrick said. “I [felt] great throughout the game. A number of times I was handing off with my left hand. It wasn’t really a huge factor.
“They’re all big. All wins are big, and that one was great. … The biggest thing was just having two losses in a row, and how were we going to respond to having a home game versus a team that we think we should win the game coming in.’’
Wide receiver Eric Decker gushed over the quarterback’s leadership.
“He’s a great leader for us. We didn’t have that as an excuse. … He did a great job all week,’’ Decker said. “He’s resilient, he’s tough, he’s even-keeled through it all. We had some ups and we had some downs, but it’s a 60-minute battle and he stuck in there he led us and he made enough plays for us to be victorious.’’